


what it is

by yee_hawlw



Category: Oxenfree
Genre: F/F, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship, theyre both awkward but its okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-12 18:31:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14732381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yee_hawlw/pseuds/yee_hawlw
Summary: Nona: its 2 amNona: you JUST thought of this?





	what it is

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not entirely sure what this is?? But. Take it anyway.

**Alex:** big test for math class next monday

 **Alex:** u want my notes??

The light from Nona’s phone brightens the Circle K parking lot. The only other light sources are the flickering neon logo above the door and the inside of the store behind her.

There is a single lonely car, parked by where she is sitting on the curb. She guesses it's the cashier’s; a woman who seemed semi-interested in why a seventeen-year-old girl was buying a slushie and a hotdog so late (or so early), but not interested enough to question it.

Nona realizes she's left Alex on read for a while and quickly types out a response.

 **Nona:** its 2 am

 **Nona:** you JUST thought of this?

 **Nona:** why are you up?

It takes a couple minutes for Alex to respond. Nona finishes the last of her hotdog.

 **Alex:** i passed out after school. i just woke up

Nona’s brows draw together in concern.

 **Nona:** have you been sleeping ok?

 **Alex:** who has??

 **Alex:** lmao

There isn't any fault with Alex’s words. Nona hasn't been sleeping well since the island. She knows Clarissa isn't, either. There's been a lot of nightmares and waking up clammy and shaking, the phantom feelings of possession seizing her ribcage. To top it all off, her parents are getting worried, which is the absolute _last_ thing she needs.

 **Alex:** so do u want the notes??

 **Nona:** yeah thanks that would be great

 **Alex:** cool

 **Alex:** i can bring them to ur house if u’d liek

 **Nona:** im not there

 **Nona:** circle k snack run

 **Nona:** you want anything?

 **Alex:** hmmmm…..

She sends an obscene amount of thinking emojis. Nona can’t help but smile.

 **Alex:** nachos pls

 **Alex:** and jonas wants sour gummies. preferably those rainbow ones??

 **Alex:** you know the ones

 **Nona:** i know the ones

 **Alex:** cool

 **Alex:** i’ll pay u back

Nona debates sending a heart emoji. Too forward, perhaps. Not exactly right in this situation, either. Instead, she sends a simple thumbs up emoji. Alex texts back smile.

The concrete digs into Nona’s palms as she pushes herself up off the curb. She throws her hot dog wrapper in the trash can by the entrance as she enters the store once again.

Coming in once at three in the morning may not have been enough to garner her attention, but the second time Nona enters her eyes follow her around the store. She gathers her nachos and her sour rainbow gummies and sets them on the counter.

“Back again?” the woman asks while ringing her up.

“Uh huh,” she says, staring at a magazine cover to her right instead of at her. _Tom’s Girl Troubles_ , it advertises. Nona hands the cashier a ten dollar bill.

“Real hungry, huh?”

“Uh, no, not really,” she says. “This is for my - well - my - and her brother.”

The cashier gives Nona her change, her nachos, and her rainbow sour gummies with a raised eyebrow, seemingly intrigued. “Sounds like a real special gal,” she says. “Good luck.”

“Um. Thanks.” She cringes a bit internally at herself as she turns on her heel and heads out the door. “Bye.”

“Goodnight.”

Nona’s been over to Alex and Jonas’ house enough times in these past couple weeks to know the route. She plugs her headphones into her phone and plays a violin piece that Clarissa had covered for her recital last year.

Camena pretty much dies after midnight. Nona doesn't pass by anyone on her way to Alex’s, aside from a few squirrels. A rabbit nibbles on Alex’s lawn before Nona spooks it as she approaches. It takes off.

Her quiet raps against the door are quickly answered by a bedraggled Jonas. He’s in his pajamas, beanieless, hair all mussed up. His eyes are glazed over and fuzzy, almost not comprehending what he's seeing, until Nona holds the gummies up.

He snaps out of his bleary state. “Rainbow gummies!” he exclaims. He snatches them out of her hand before pulling Nona into a tight hug. “You're the best.”

Nona hums and pats him on the back. “I know.”

He chuckles. He pulls back in order to jab his thumb at the stairs behind him. “Alex is upstairs, in her room.”

Nona nods. “Are you...um...How’s it going today?”

Jonas shrugs. That's a mood.

He partly smiles. “As good as it can go, I guess,” he says. She nods and makes a noise of agreement. Jonas holds up his sour gummies. “And now it's going great.”

He pulls open the gummy bag as he walks over to the living room. The TV is paused on a frame of Gordon Ramsay yelling at a man with his head hung shamefully. The closed captions read, **IT’S F****** RAW.**

The TV is the only light on throughout the entire first floor. The only light from the second floor comes from Alex’s room. Soft light spills from the tiny crack in the door. Nona gently taps her knuckles against it.

“Come in.” Alex’s voice is muffled, and tired.

Nona pushes the door open. Alex sits at her desk. Her head is perched on her knee, her eyes trained on the screen of her laptop.

Alex turns around. Nona’s breath is stolen right from her gay lungs.

_Alex’s hair is down._

Nona realizes, suddenly, that she has never seen Alex with her hair down before. It is most truly a sight to behold. Her hair cascades down her back, fluffy and soft, and frames her face in a way that makes Nona want to tuck it behind her ear and then cup her face and kiss her gently, and Nona wonders when this tiny crush (more of an admiration, really) formed during a terrifying ghost-riddled night had turned _this_.

“Nachosss,” Alex says, making grabby-hands in Nona’s direction. “Gimme, gimme, gimme.”

“Okay, okay, hold on.” Nona places the nachos on Alex’s desk instead of in her waiting hands just to see her pout comically. She scoops up the nachos and shovels them into her mouth.

“My wallet is on the dresser,” Alex says around a mouthful of nachos. “Take whatever I owe you.”

Nona only takes out the change for Jonas’s gummies, since he’ll probably end up paying Alex back for them, and a battered stick of gum. She unwraps it. Mint. She throws it away and prays for Alex to one day get a better taste in gum.

When she turns back, the nacho container sits empty on Alex’s desk.

At Nona’s questioning look, Alex shrugs. “I slept through dinner. I’ve only had, like, a handful of Goldfish since lunch.”

Nona furrows her brows in concern. “Are you, like, doing okay?”

Alex rolls her eyes and slugs her gently in the side. “Says the girl who was doing a two am Circle K snack run and skipped school when she said she’d be going today. Which wouldn’t have really been a big deal, but you - _she_ wasn’t hanging out at the studio.”

Nona falls quiet for a moment. She thinks. “I think we both need to get okay-er,” she says. “We all do,” she adds, thinking of Clarissa and Jonas and Ren.

Alex gets quiet too. A pensive look befalls her face, and she taps a finger against her desk. “Yeah,” she agrees quietly. She meets Nona’s eyes. “But. Seriously. What's up?”

Nona shrugs. Then she groans and flops down onto Alex’s bed. “I don’t know,” she says. “I don’t know, and that's the worst part. I just wasn't - I just wasn't feeling school today, you know? Nothing was _wrong_ \- or, well, wronger than the new usual - but I was walking to school and I was just like, ‘Hm. Nah.’ and then I went home.”

She drags a hand down her face. “I’ll go to detention. I don't want to be suspended again. At least, not this week. Should probably attend at least _one_ class this week, y’know?”

Alex is looking down at her with a soft expression that makes her feel _things_ when Nona removes the hand from her eyes.

“Can I copy the notes for you tomorrow?” Alex says. “Er, in the morning, I guess, since today is already tomorrow. Whatever. I just don’t really think either of us wants to do school right now.”

She's right. Nona sighs and nods.

“Cool.” Alex closes her laptop. She stands and grabs the remote to her TV before clambering onto the bed. She lays horizontally on the bed, head on Nona’s stomach, legs dangling over the footboard.

“Uh.” Nona kinda wants to touch her hair. “Whatcha doing?”

“Sleepover,” Alex says. “We can watch documentaries until we fall asleep.”

“Oh,” Nona says. “Oh. Yeah, okay.” Alex turns on the TV. “Can I borrow some pajamas?”

“Yeah. Go ahead.”

Nona slides out from under Alex as she loads up Netflix. She digs through Alex’s drawers and finds a pair of Spider-Man sweatpants that will fit her. She shucks her own pants and tugs on the Spider-Man ones. She rids herself of her bra but keeps her own shirt.

Nona shoots her parents and Clarissa a text about her current whereabouts. Her parents are most likely asleep right now. Clarissa is not.

 **Clarissa:** remember to use protection

 **Nona:** shut up

 **Clarissa:** tell me about it in the morningg

The phone _dings_ with another notification from Clarissa. It’s a whole bunch of kissing emojis. Nona chooses not to respond, and tosses her phone lightly onto her discarded, bunched up pants and bra.

Alex has already gotten comfy on her bed. Her eyes reflect the loading screen as she pulls up Netflix.

When Nona approaches, Alex scooches over to make sure Nona has enough room to sit next to her. Nona settles into the pillows.

Alex rests her head on Nona’s shoulder and turns her laptop so that Nona can see the screen better. Her hair smells like...electricity?

It reminds Nona of the...the island, when she and Alex were in town, and Alex had summoned the ghosts with her radio and a car. The air was charged with dangerous electricity while Alex spoke with ghosts, and the burnt smell lingered in the air and on their clothes long after.

“Do you, like, stick a fork in a socket or something?”

“I…” Alex takes her head off of Nona’s shoulder to give her a questioning smile. “Um? No? Why?”

“Your hair smells burnt.”

“It does?” Alex asks. She takes a lock of hair and sniffs it, immediately recoiling at the smell. “Jeez. I don't know. It might be my shampoo? Jonas’s dad is trying out this new herbal hippie stuff.”

Nona doesn't know why herbs would make her hair smell like it got singed off, but she isn't exactly a herbal expert, so she lets it go.

Alex snuggles a bit closer, doing _things_ to Nona’s gay heart, and scrolls through the shows. “What do you wanna watch?”

“I dunno.” Nona rests her head on top of Alex’s. Her hair is soft. “Wait. Fuck. Go back. Power Rangers.”

“Oh, hell yeah,” Alex mumbles in agreement. “Which one though?”

“Um.” Nona considers. “Mystic Force.”

“I see you have good taste, my friend,” Alex says. She clicks on _Mystic Force_ and the intro begins.

The singed scent to Alex’s hair is kind of disgusting, but Nona tolerates it. She hesitantly slings an arm around Alex’s shoulders and smiles to herself when Alex leans into her.

The team gains their powers all the while doing some backflips in the woods. Nona is beginning to be lulled to sleep by the sounds of characters punching each other when Alex suddenly takes her head out from under hers. Nona snaps awake.

“Hey.” Alex looks at her with a pensive expression on her face, brows drawn together.

“...Hi?” Nona yawns into her fist. “Are you okay? Y’need more food or something?”

“No, sorry, I was…” Her pointer finger taps restlessly on her thigh. Her eyes search Nona’s face for... _something_. Apparently, she finds it, or doesn't find it, because half a moment later she surges forward to press her lips against Nona’s.

It's certainly not the worst kiss Nona has ever had, but it isn't exactly the best either. It’s a couple seconds of panicked, hard pressure, and then it's over. Before it is though Nona notices that Alex is shaking.

“Woah, hey,” Nona says after Alex pulls away. Alex seizes up, looking ready to launch into a series of apologies, but Nona holds up a hand. “That was like, totally okay for you to do - like totally seriously okay - but are you like. Are you okay, Alex?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Of course.” Alex’s hand jerks up to make some random gesture before tucking a bit of electric blue hair behind her ear. “Just…bad day. A whole bunch of bad days, actually.”

“Oh.” Nona deflates. Of course Alex’s kiss would be the product of a bad day and not actual romantic feelings for Nona. She glances back up at Alex, who’s trying to discreetly wipe away tears from her eyes. “Do you want me to go?”

“No!” Alex says quickly. “God no, I-” She bites down on her lower lip. “Jesus fucking Christ,” she says under her breath. “Why is this _so_ \- so - Ugh.” She drops her head into her hands and digs her palms roughly into her eyes.

Nona, feeling bold, slowly reaches out to remove one of Alex’s hands from her face, lacing their fingers together. “I don't know what this _is_ , but I'm pretty sure both of us know that it's _something_ ,” she says. “And I think it would be better if we talk about it in the morning when we’re both in better moods.”

Alex stares at their conjoined hands. “Yeah. Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr here [**@theamazingkrypto**](https://theamazingkrypto.tumblr.com) ****
> 
> Reviews really mean a lot to me!


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